


Catharsis

by Izuniias



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Norn - Freeform, Norn/Sylvari, Original Character-centric, Sylvari
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 23:31:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8467183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izuniias/pseuds/Izuniias
Summary: Thorns and brambles, who could come out of this a sane person?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing Guild Wars for quite some time and it's come to my attention that I've never written anything for my characters despite rping as them with others.. Figured I'd rectify this but writing something better from an old rp transcript. This may or may not become a chaptered work or series.
> 
> The only thing I own are the characters. (Except Mara, she belongs to the darling.. Mara aka my sweetest rp partner ever, also happy birthday, doll!!)
> 
> There are notes on the bottom about comms!

Silence and stillness is all it takes to frighten her, to scare her, to make her question if every sound she heard was real or yet another one  _he_ had made in her mind. It had only been a month -  _a single month_ \- since Mordremoth had been slain and Trahearne alongside him and she still found herself questioning it, doubting the silence in her head as well as fearing for the day that it just may return. It was to be expected, some sylvari came out of the situation with minds mostly intact while others simply.. Continued to believe, to move and work as if the jungle dragon was not slain but thankfully is rapidly decreasing droves. Those stuck in between would certainly be an issue, one she was lucky to avoid having to face..

Regardless, Valmae still felt unease and discomfort even in Hoelbrak. The dragon's voice was no longer suffocating her but now it was the silence that came both internally and externally and she soon found herself spending nights, tinkering at a workbench on her gyros or even attempting to create new explosives for combat. She found the gentle ticks and hums of her gyros soothing, the way their cogs had moved and clicked as she fiddled with the blades or the balance system within them had become a sort of lullaby for her. She found comfort in them as they never once judged or pried her for questions.

They never once asked about the Dragon's voice, about what he had asked - No, what he  _demanded_  of her. They never questioned her choices, never once doubted her or even felt the need to distance themselves from her and her tent when nightfall came and dozens of soldiers were exhausted or injured. She was never put on surveillance by her turrets, led astray, or even forced to stay almost fifty yards away at all times-!

All too quickly, she removed the screwdriver from the small orange gyro that rested on the table and stabbed the tip of the tool into the table. "Thorns!"

She was broken, damaged, and even now.. She was still so _frightened_.

It was to be expected when you're commander, after all there is no such thing as a good war, even if it is between dragon and men but.. It took not only energy but people from her as well and so  _easily_ at that. If it wasn't her own charges then it was Mordremoth himself..

Countless deaths, countless soldiers all putting their lives in her hands and a  _sylvari_  of all people to trust. There was guilt and even fear.. They arrived in the jungle on her orders but were they hers..? Did she lead them to die, fully aware of the consequences or was it the dragon, pulling the strings ever so subtly from the sidelines and what of the people she hurt? The few times she felt herself so damned tempted to submit, to join his ranks of mordrem and what of those that she failed to save in time? What of Eir and Trahearne? Both the Grove and Hoelbrak seemed less inviting without the two. If she wasn't upset before, she clearly was now. Tears threatened to overflow, to pour out endlessly, her throat felt all too dry and her face glowed, a rather stronger blue hue than normal around her cheeks and nose. _Had breathing always been this difficult and had her sight always been so damn fogged up?_

* * *

 

Mara was the first to find Valmae knelt on the floor, practically wheezing with tears staining her dark blue features and an evidently bright glow, a clear sign of extreme distress . The sight of the commander mourning was rare, a first even and to see her so distraught well.. She could only feel empathy. She wasted no time, of course, carefully scooping Val into her arms and muttering something she could have sworn she had been told before, possibly some odd norn tale or myth about moving on or acceptance for the dead and occasionally hushing the sylvari who just clung to her and wept till she had no tears left to shed and nearly exhausted herself in the process.. Seconds passed and eventually turned into minutes and Mara was the first to break the newly created silence in the room.

"We could leave if you'd like. We can head back to Lion's Arch, you can get that place by the docks you wanted us to get 'fore we left.." The only response she received was a nod followed by a muffled sob and that was all the confirmation she needed. She made her way to the bed, placing her tuckered out partner beneath the sheets and planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Well, I'll see if I can get us some sort of ' _we killed two elder dragons_ ' discount but for now you should rest.." Mara sighs and glances back at the table, staring at the screwdriver now embedded into it and the gyro that continued to beep and hum beside it. "And don't stab anymore tables, _blossom._ "

Perhaps she imagined it but she could have sworn she heard Valmae curse and attempt to shout that she hated being referred to as blossom as she left. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Psst: You can check my comissions on tumblr (I also accept in game currency/items) on http://ralliare.tumblr.com/comms and I also accept payment via anything on my wishlist here: http://ralliare.tumblr.com/wishlist
> 
>  
> 
> [I set up a ko-fi if anyone is interested in supporting me and my works! Hopefully if all goes well I can make an attempt to publish more. \o/](http://ko-fi.com/izunia)


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